A title fight and rematch between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (31-4 MMA, 14-0 UFC) and challenger Chael Sonnen (27-11-1 MMA, 6-4 UFC) apparently has been moved from UFC 147 in Brazil to UFC 148 in Las Vegas.

A press conference today in Rio de Janeiro announcing the change has been delayed an hour due to technical issues.

However, signage at the media event now shows a UFC 148 poster adorned with Silva and Sonnen's likeness and names.

UFC 148 takes place July 7 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. A bantamweight title fight between champion Dominick Cruz (19-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and longtime rival Urijah Faber (26-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC), who currently serve as coaches on "The Ultimate Fighter: Live," will be demoted from the pay-per-view event's headliner to the the co-headliner under Silva vs. Sonnen.

UFC officials initially announced UFC 147 and Silva vs. Sonnen II for June 23 at Joao Havelange Stadium (also known as Engenhao Stadium) in Rio. However, in recent weeks, White said the company was considering a different date due to the United Nations' "Rio +20" meeting, which is scheduled for June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro. That meeting prompted political pressure from local officials and a lack of hotel rooms for such a large UFC stadium show. That prompted speculation of Silva vs. Sonnen moving off the card altogether.

Sonnen dominated reigning champ Anderson Silva for four rounds before succumbing to a last-round triangle choke at UFC 117 in 2010. Sonnen set up a rematch with a January win over Michael Bisping, and Silva since has defeated the likes of Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami. The rematch is likely to be one of the biggest fights in MMA history.

Although the event has lost its headliner, UFC 147 will soldier on.

At a press conference today in Rio de Janeiro, UFC president Dana White today announced UFC 147 will take place at a date to be determined with a Wanderlei Silva (34-11-1 MMA, 4-6 UFC) vs. Vitor Belfort (21-9 MMA, 10-5 UFC) bout. Additionally featherweight champion Jose Aldo also (21-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) is expected to fight at the event.

Currently, White said, the event still will take place June 23, though a venue hasn't been determined.

UFC officials initially announced UFC 147 at Joao Havelange Stadium (also known as Engenhao Stadium) in Rio. However, White recently said conflicts with the United Nations' "Rio +20" meeting, which is scheduled for June 20-22 in Rio, could prompt some changes. Instead of the stadium, which could have broken the UFC's all-time attendance record (55,724 attendees at UFC 129), UFC 147 now is searching for a new venue.

Admittedly, Silva was disappointed he couldn't fight in Brazil.

"He was very upset about not fighting in Brazil," White said. "He wanted to fight Chael Sonnen here. ... I finally convinced him to take the fight in Las Vegas."

Aldo initially was announced for a headlining spot at UFC 149 in Calgary on July 21, but instead, White said he expects the Brazilian to fight at UFC 147 in his home country.

Additionally, White confirmed UFC 147 still will feature both tournament finales from "The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil," which is currently at the midseason point, as well as Brazilian heavyweight Fabricio Werdum (15-5-1 MMA, 3-2 UFC) vs. Mike Russow (15-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC).

Agree, that convention will have been known about probably 2 years ago. The UFC probably thought they'd just wade in and it'd be fine. That being said, the lack of hotel rooms thing is utter nonsense. UN Convention will take up one large 4 star hotel, Rio is fucking full of a great hotels so 1 less wouldn't matter.